Remembrance
by VectorSigma101
Summary: Sequel to "Retribution": Skip's never been nothing more than a simple tom—simple if you don't count his recent amnesia. He can't recall anything from the past six moons, and he's lost more than ever. Lost in the Twoleg Place and surrounded by a variety of interesting characters, Skip must learn to adapt to his new surroundings quickly, before the darkness consumes him.
1. Prologue

**Here's the sequel to _Retribution_! It's a little different than the previous book, but I think you'll like it. ^^**

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Huh? Who goes there? Identify yourself intruder! Speak now or—oh, sorry. I just thought you were an enemy, but now I can see that you're just a pair of harmless kittypets; I should've heard your obnoxious bells jingle from clicks away. Oh, and let me unlatch my claws from your belly…sorry, it's a force of habit.

So Caspian told ya where I was, huh? I should've known. He may be my best friend, but he sometimes can be kinda creepy when it comes to his senses. So what can I do for you? …you want to hear my story? Seriously? Not many cats journey here to hear my story…most of the time they just want our help and leave without a second thought. ...Really? Hah, I've been told that I'm a great skipper and all, but it never really sinks in. But of course I'll tell you my story. I've never told it before, especially not to a pair of curious kittypets. I didn't mean that as a bad thing, no, but I've been there and done that. I enjoy my freedom.

Well, let me start my tale with a question: how would you feel if you lost all of your _memories_? You wouldn't know where you came from, who your relatives were, nor who you really were! Well, that was me several seasons ago. I had no memories of who I was and was practically wandering around the Twoleg Place blind! I didn't know if someone was searching for me, and were they wondering if I was safe? I didn't know!

The important thing is that now nearly everyone knows who they are and where they belong. I belong here with my cats, Lyles belongs with the Flyers, my parents—

I'm getting ahead of myself. Get comfortable because we're going to be here for a while. Let's begin with our paws lashing out and water filling our lungs.


	2. Allegiances Part 1

**ALLEGIANCES**

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 **TWOLEG PLACE**

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 _ **Kittypets**_

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Valora – pretty silver tabby she-cat w/ green eyes

Iris – silver tabby she-cat w/ blue eyes

Sylvester – silver tabby tom w/ blue eyes

Tearlach – dark gray tom w/ green eyes

Pollux – ginger tom w/ green eyes

Yippee – young brown tom w/ amber eyes

Zingara – cream-colored she-cat w/ a brown face, tail, paws & blue eyes (7 moons old)

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 _ **Russell's Group**_

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Russell – mottled ginger & white tom w/ amber eyes

Tibalt – black-silver tom w/ amber eyes

Addie – ginger she-cat w/ amber eyes

Argus – muscular brown tom w/ amber eyes

Chaos – black tom w/ amber eyes

Eliot – cream-colored tom w/ a brown face, tail, paws & blue eyes

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 ** _Rogues_**

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Dee-Dee – skinny pale brown tabby tom w/ amber eyes

Salt – white tom w/ green eyes

Gillian – white she-cat w/ blue eyes

Eurybia – black she-cat w/ golden eyes

Greasy – large brown tabby tom w/ amber eyes (7 moons old)

Xenon – tortoiseshell & white tom w/ green eyes (7 moons old)

Arwin – ginger tabby tom w/ blue eyes (7 moons old)

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 _ **Loners**_

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Caspian – dark gray tabby tom w/ blue eyes (7 moons old)

Skip – black & white tom w/ blue eyes (6 moons old)

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 **There will be a lot of updates!**


	3. ACT I----Chapter 1

**Sorry for the huge delay! I was busy brainstorming the next few chapters! XD And I'm working on a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff so keep an eye out for new content!**

 **Also, there will be four acts and (hopefully) more than twenty chapters. Haha. I hope you enjoy this beginning!**

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 **Act I - The Dogs**

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 **Chapter 1 - Awaken**

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 _Water…water everywhere…I-I can't swim…I_ can't _swim…help, I'm drowning…I'm drowning…_ _ **HELP**_ _!_

The tom abruptly woke up from his nightmare with wide eyes and bristling fur. He felt adrenaline pumping through his veins as he rapidly scanned his surroundings. His unsheathed claws barely punctured the smooth and cold floor beneath him, and he was surrounded by thin beams of silver sticks. _What is this? Where am I?_ Still reeling from the aftermath of his nightmare, the tom frantically lashed out at the odd silver sticks, and was surprised to find them impenetrable. _No, no, no! Let me out! Let me out! The_ tom started to hyperventilate, and pace frantically around his prison _. No, this can't be happening. I need to get out! I need to get out! "_ Get me out of here!" he yowled at the top of his lungs.

"Shush!" snapped a gruff masculine voice from above.

The black and white tom blinked. He didn't realize that there were other prisons all around him, and they all held cats inside. "But…I'm trapped here!"

"We're all trapped in here kit," the gruff voice responded. The voice sounded miserable as if he were holding back pain.

"What happened to you?" the kit dared to ask.

"The Twolegs just got me fixed," the tom growled. "The pain will go away in a few quarter moons."

Fixed? He didn't know what that meant, but he didn't want to be "fixed"! It sounded as if the…Twolegs? He didn't know what Twolegs were! He looked at the prisons besides him; to his right was a white she-cat grooming herself and to his left was a dark gray tabby tom crouching in front of his cell and his gaze fixated outside.

"W-What are you doing?" the tom stammered to the dark gray tabby. His heart was still racing and his voice betrayed how nervous he was.

"I'm concentrating!" the tom snapped. He appeared no older than himself. His pelt was sleek, but his face was still small and held traces of kitten fluff.

"W-Well…what are you concentrating on?"

"Shh! Here comes the Twolegs."

Suddenly the tom-kit heard several voices approach. Several tall creatures wearing dark blue pelts appeared from beyond his prison. The creatures balanced perfectly on two legs, and they had smooth and pale skins with their heads only being covered in long fur. The two legged monsters each carried a large container. One by one, they stopped by each of the prisons and easily opened the prison door as if it was nothing. Then, they poured some small hard pellets into a small dish, before closing the door and moving on to the next prison. The creatures spoke to each other in a language the tom-kit could not decipher.

He did not move as one of them opened his cage and poured some of the pellets into his silver dish. Once the door was closed, he gave the pellets a quick sniff. They smelled appetizing and edible, so he tentatively chewed on one. It was as dry as dust and crunched in his mouth.

The gray tom-kit next to him gave out a harsh laugh. "What are ya, some sort of kittypet? You're pretty skinny for a kittypet, though. Perhaps you should take my food as well to fatten up!" he jeered.

"What's a 'kittypet'?" the black and white tom-kit questioned. By now, his nerves were calmed down.

His neighbor gave him an incredulous look. "Seriously? You don't know what a kittypet is?" He stood up and approached the prison's shiny stick walls, to which the tom-kit was grateful they were there. His neighbor stuck his tiny muzzle through the silver sticks and growled, "A kittypet is a good for nothing and useless cat who is incredibly lazy. They live with Twolegs and are pampered all day. They stay indoors and never feel the sun on their pelt. They eat mice pellets like the ones you are eating and get extremely fat." He snorted. "There's nothing worse than to be a kittypet."

The tom-kit kept eating despite his neighbor's insistence. He couldn't help it that he couldn't recall the last time he ate... "So, you aren't going to eat?"

"I'd rather starve," the gray tabby tom-kit mumbled and walked away from the wall. He sat down and studied the rest of the Twolegs, who were finishing up feeding the other cats. "I'm going to get out of here…" the tom-kit heard him mumble. He suddenly and sharply glanced at the tom-kit, who shrunk under his harsh gaze. "So what's your story, kit? Where were you from before the Twolegs snagged ya?"

"M-My story?" the tom-kit repeated as his stuttered reappeared. He tried to think for a few heartbeats before he chillingly realized: he had no memories of anything. He couldn't recall who he was, nor his name…nor where he came from…anything! The tom-kit's heartbeat rapidly rose again as his body shuddered violently. What happened to him? "I-I-I don't know!" he wailed, burying his muzzle into his white paws.

"What do you mean 'you don't know'?" the other kit questioned. "How do you not know? Heck, even I know my own parents…"

"I don't! I just don't!" he wailed.

"Shut up!" the gruff tom from above screeched.

"Hey…hey…stop wailing…alright?" his neighbor surprisingly soothed. Eventually, the tom-kit ceased wailing and gazed at his neighbor with large and innocent blue eyes. "Listen…if you want…do you want to help me escape out of here? I promise that I'll take you with me. I've got a few friends, and we take care of each other. What do ya say?" The tom was being sincere.

Well, it's not like he had any other choices. He certainly didn't want to be kittypet, based on how it was described; it sounded horrible! "I-I guess…" He flashed a small smile. "Thanks." He was grateful for the tom's kindness and hospitality. The tom-kit certainly needed someone to help him, if he was to survive without his memories.

"Don't mention it, kit," his neighbor smiled back. "Now…the Twolegs will come again to feed us for dinner, so we just have to wait patiently until then."

"What do we do then?" the tom-kit asked enthusiastically.

"When the Twolegs open our cages to feed us, we rush out! Use your claws and teeth to scratch them until ya get free. Run to the left and out a few doors until we reach freedom. Sound like a plan?"

"Yeah!" the tom-kit happily agreed. "Thank you."

"Thank me when we escape," his neighbor merely replied. He curled up into a snug ball and tucked his paws beneath his chest. "For now, try to get some rest." He rested his gray tabby head down and curled his tail around his still kitten face.

"Right…" But the tom-kit couldn't rest. He was too excited to find a friend. And the prospect of escaping the prisons sounded like an adventure! However, he was puzzled that his new friend hadn't told him his name yet. Did he not have a name either? The black and white tom-kit couldn't recall anything so far…maybe he could remember his own name if he thought hard about it. He copied his neighbor's position and thought long and hard about his mysterious past.

Fortunately for the tom-kit, he did not dream of water dragging him down into its black depths. When he awoke a few hours later, he still couldn't recall anything. Perhaps he would have to get used to being clueless.

His neighbor was already up and pacing around his cell. He could see the muscles ripple beneath his gray tabby pelt. He was probably really anxious or something.

"Remember the plan," his friend whispered as the Twolegs reappeared with their large containers. He wondered how the strange creatures didn't freeze with only fur on their heads. Weren't they cold? Perhaps their dark blue pelts provided some warmth in some weird way.

His friend crouched as a Twoleg prepared to open his prison. With a mighty, yet still kitten-like, roar, his gray tabby friend launched himself at the Twoleg. It yelped in surprise and stumbled back a few paces, while the rogue tom-kit wildly screeched and dug his claws into the Twoleg's face. It hollered for its friends and flailed its long arms about, trying to grab a hold of the wild kit. Fortunately, the gray tabby tom-kit was fast and managed to weave around the Twoleg's head to avoid getting caught. Finally, he launched himself off of the Twoleg and sped down the hall.

The tom-kit blinked. This was his chance! A Twoleg had opened his prison and then left to help its acquaintance, leaving the door wide open. Not wasting another heartbeat, the tom-kit leapt out of the prison and raced after his friend. He was promptly blinded by bright lights from the ceiling, which reflected off of the pristine white walls and floors, but he forced himself onward. His paws slid on the slick floors as he turned right, following his friend's scent. He dodged between shocked Twolegs, who let out yelps of surprise as he zoomed by.

The tom-kit spotted his friend waiting by what he presumed was the exit. "Great, you made it!" he happily exclaimed. "I thought ya didn't have the guts to follow me." He gave him a toothy grin.

"I'm not a coward!" the black and white tom-kit stubbornly replied with a tiny squeak.

His companion merely shrugged. "Sure, but now I need your help. You see this mat we're standing on?" He gestured with his paws at the grooved, black mat below their paws. "It's sensitive to pressure. We need to jump on it at the same time, and then the glass doors will move."

The tom-kit's blue eyes widened. "On their own?"

The gray tabby tom-kit nodded. "Yup. Now, on the count of three. One…two…" Both of the kittens bunched up their muscles and were prepared to jump. "Three!" With a mighty leap, both kits sprung into the air and landed firmly on the mat. Just like the gray tabby tom said, the doors slid aside with a whoosh!

"Now let's go!" his friend immediately stated just as several Twolegs appeared from around the corner. His friend sped into the outside world with the black and white tom-kit not far behind. He was promptly blinded by many new scents and sounds, but he forced himself to keep up with his friend.

The gray tabby kit ducked between Twolegs and creatures that barked at them. "Just keep running!" he yowled over his shoulder. He suddenly swerved into an alley way and took refuge behind a dumpster.

"Did…did we lose them?" the black and white tom-kit asked as he panted heavily. He'd apparently never had run that fast before, and now he was out of breath.

His friend looked over their shoulder and roughly shook his pelt. "Yup. I think we lost them," he assured with a few pants. He stretched his back and curled his toes. "It feels good to be free!" he purred loudly. He gave his paw a few swift licks and dragged it over his face. "So…remember your name yet, kit?"

He shook his head. No memories seemed to flicker back to him. "Not yet, anyway."

The gray tabby tom-kit ceased grooming himself. "Well, I think it's about time I tell you mine. I don't like to give my name out to every cat I meet." He puffed out his chest in a mocking way. "My name's Caspian. You can call me Caspian, thank you very much."

"Okay, Caspian," he replied with a smile.

Caspian returned the smile. "Now…if you don't have a name, or if you don't remember yours, I'm gonna give you one, because I'm tired of calling you 'kit'. Now…" The gray tabby tom started to pace. "What kinda name would suit ya? Spot? Dash? Peppercorn? Hmm…"

As Caspian thought out loud to himself, a sudden yet brief memory flickered inside the black and white tom-kit's head. He tried to mentally reach out and grasp a firm hold on it, but it vanished just as quickly as it appeared. He thought he heard someone calling out to him…but he couldn't recall who it was. However…he thought he heard his name. It was faint, but he definitely heard part of it.

"I got it!" Caspian surmised proudly. "I'm gonna call ya Amnesia, because it suits ya. What do ya think about that name, Amnesia?"

"Actually…I think I remember my name," he softly replied.

"Really?" Caspian questioned in awe before quickly giving him an incredulous look. "Are you just saying that because you don't like the name I picked out for ya? Amnesia's a pretty cool name if ya ask me…"

He shook his head politely. "No…I'm pretty sure I'd remembered my name."

Caspian sat back and looked at the kit expectantly. "Well. What is it? Don't leave me hanging!"

The black and white tom-kit looked at Caspian with bright and excited blue eyes. "I think I…I think I remembered someone calling me Skip."

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 **I tried to make my writing sound more like a child's, since Skip is about six months old right now. And sorry if it got too annoying without their names. I didn't want to reveal them until the end of the chapter. ^^**


End file.
